After a few weeks of procrastination, we finally have the Fanime 2014 Report up. What to say about this year? A lot better than last year, let me tell you. Though I think we need a lot more participation from our fellow journalists than simply walking around and taking pictures, like providing some feedback and participating a bit more in the events other than just showing up thinking everything will be ready for whatever...we need to get in there and take a bit more of a part of production so we can all do our jobs better and not step on each other's toes. Honestly, though, that's more of a personal anecdote. Read on to see more about what the convention was about and how well they did this year.

So here we are, eight years since the first time I've been to Fanime, and six, I believe, that I've worked with them as a member of the press for Dragon's Anime and TFA Cosplay. Some things have changed and some have remained the same. The location, for one, has remained constant, though the use of that location, as well as the construction of the location itself has altered over time. Most of the main events have remained constant, though in the cases of the Music Fest, have widened considerably in scope. Stage Zero remains one of those basically ongoing events that one can just stop in the middle of their traversals through Fanime and take in, but the presentations have been getting more and more formalized with Singing, Maid Para Para Dancing, and the like in addition to the game shows and whatnot that have been there staple of the location. Opening Ceremonies has grown from Stage Zero to encompassing the entire entrance to the convention center, and sometimes even outside depending on what sort of things they will have going on. All in all, it's still a convention by the fans, for the fans, but it is growing, and while the location is growing with it, I've noted in my last few reports that I'm curious as to when true saturation point there in down town San Jose will occur, and what that will mean for the convention. Still, that's just idle speculation at present; it's time to get to the main event.

I know, I've been a little bit late with this one. I'll admit, I've been mulling a lot of things over in my mind over it, and I've decided this year there will be no Youtube video of the Masquerade for Fanime. Their rights filter is far too restrictive anymore to make it a viable platform for these variety shows. Thus, it may be, in the future, that we wind up on Vimeo or something, but Youtube's days are numbered.

Until we have a streaming solution, we'll use torrents, and here's the torrent for the Fanime 2014 Masquerade as hosted by Nyaa Torrents...or you can click the little attachment link below if you're reading this news item on its own page here at Dragon's Anime.

Alright, before the main event, I'll make a note that yes, we've implemented a verification check at TFA Cosplay. It doesn't work like how I want it to, but it is better than nothing, and will allow me a level of plausible deniability to upload various photos that are far more risque than I'd normally be comfortable without at least asking, 'sure you really want to go there?' Mostly I'd like to implement it on an as needed basis, be it galleries or individual pics, but unless I can manage to code my own, this is what I have to work with.

San Francisco, California — May 14th, 2014 — eigoMANGA unveils it's event schedule for FanimeCon 2014 which is held on May 23–26, 2014 at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California.

Report from Hell or covention from Hell? Nah, Anime Expo 2007 still holds the record for being THE CONVENTION FROM HELL! So, given that, was it all bad? No. Was it incredible and awesome? Not hardly. Still, bluntly put, they do too many more of these, and they'll bury Fanime. Read on to see what I mean.

So...how about those lines? What, too soon? Shit, I've been putting off this report for a while, I figured...y'know...maybe we could have all...yeah, who am I kidding?

If you weren't at Fanime 2013 you MIGHT be wondering what I'm on about. Honestly...shit, we'll just start this by getting it out of the way right now. Fanime 2013 was a much nicer version of Anime Expo 2007. Yes, I went there. I mean, really, there's just no other way to describe this year's Fanime. It was a mess of long lines, crowded areas, and technical difficulties that would have made the place an absolute Hell to be at had ALL (there was one notable incident I'll describe later) the convention and grounds staff been as dysfunctional and downright evil as the ones that were at AX 2007. Fortunately this was not the case, so we should probably count our blessings, because that would have been the spark of that would have set off all sorts of fun fires.

Well, it appears it's the date from the strike and not the date the initial indication was logged at Youtube. Which means we have about...5 more weeks before I can upload video on Youtube again. But this will not deter us from sharing the videos of what we record, oh no. The Fanime 2013 Masquerade Torrent, in all its glory and warts...lots of Fanime technical glitches...is now available, courtesy of Nyaa Torrents. Or you can download the link below.